In Too Deep
by StreetlightsAndRaindrops
Summary: It all started out in a quiet tea shop, but before he knew it, Eirikur's life was changed forever when he let someone so complicated into his life. After falling for Leon, Eirikur realises that he's gotten himself into more than what he bargained for, but there's no way he'd leave now. TW: Future Mentions of abuse, attempted suicide, and the death of a chicken.
1. The Tea Shop

It was a lazy spring afternoon when Eirikur decided to head into town after school. He'd have to catch a bus home, but that could wait for later. He felt like having some time for himself before he went back home to his brothers. It wasn't a big town, but Eirikur lived in a village a little way out and needed to catch the bus to get there. There was only one shop in the village, so he liked to stick about in the town for a while after class.

He enjoyed the peace and quiet of his own company as he walked through the town, eventually stopping at a small teashop on a street corner. He'd passed this tea shop many times before but never gone inside. He wondered to himself about why he'd not been in there before- well usually he just went with his friends to whichever shop they wanted to go to. Today he was alone though and he could get himself something to drink and maybe a snack too… he was a little peckish.

Entering the threshold as from the street, he could hear the tinkling of a door bell above his head. The floor was clean and tiled; on it were mismatched chairs and couches at various assorted tables. He could smell coffee on the air as he headed over to the counter, eyeing the cakes in their display dishes as he did. Maybe he'd get the shortcake- he was partial to it.

The young man at the counter was someone Eirikur recognised from school… except he didn't see him around anymore since the previous summer. He was sure that they were in the same grade, so… maybe he'd been transferred? He'd probably never find out anyway. It wasn't like they could host a deep conversation about what they were doing with their lives when one; they hardly knew each other, and two; they were in a service environment, not one for long conversations. He was sure the other would have to deal with other customers.

"What can I get you?" The young man asked casually, leaning on the counter with his elbows.

"Uh…" Shit- he hadn't even checked the drinks menu yet. He looked up at the board. He considered coffee or a hot chocolate, but he did have to wonder what herbal teas they had to offer. "What teas do you do?" he asked him awkwardly. He felt like a pain for not knowing exactly what he wanted to order yet.

"We have breakfast, Earl grey, black tea , green tea, ginger, fennel, chamomile, mint, liquorice root, nettle, strawberry and raspberry, lemon and ginger… There's others if you want me to keep going." That was a long list, Eirikur could understand if the other didn't want to list all of them.

"Liquorice root tea sounds good." He told him "And uh- how much is a slice of the shortcake?" he asked

"It's not too much." He told him "$2.50 per slice. My sister makes all the cakes here from scratch, so I promise it is very good." He added, seeming pretty proud of his sister's baking. Eirikur supposed that it was warranted if the baking was good, and it at least looked good.

Eirikur nodded at that "Okay yeah I can afford that." He told the other casually, pulling out his wallet and paying the other for the cake and the listed price for tea.

They young man put the money into the register before hopping down from a stool that Eirikur hadn't even noticed. That was right- he did remember him being short now that he came to think about it- Eirikur wasn't sure if the other even broke 5'5". He remembered that the other's school friends used to be much taller than him, coming closer to 6 feet tall. There was Alfred, his Australian cousin too, Antonio and… what was the other guy's name- Francis? Well he only hung around them some of the time.

The short young man went about preparing the tea, getting out a pot, a couple of tea bags, a teacup, and a plate for the cake. He was pretty quick really, assembling everything. He must have done this so much that he'd made it into a fine art at this point. "You can find a seat; I'll bring your order over to you once the tea has brewed."

Eirikur nodded at him casually "Yeah okay, I'll just go sit down then." He found a quiet table in the corner of the shop where he could be sat in the cosy corner space, looking out over the shop. There was chatter from other customers sat at their tables with their drinks too; nice art decorating the walls, relaxed music playing from speakers up in the corners. Eirikur himself was sat in a soft leather armchair, relaxing into its cushions.

The young man from behind the counter walked over after a few minutes with the pot of tea and the shortcake on a tray. He placed down the tea pot, the cup and saucer, then the plate with the strawberry shortcake, then a little fancy looking cake fork. "I hope you enjoy these." He told him, brushing a loose strand of hair from his face. He lingered a little as if he wanted to say something but then left, adjusting his apron a little.

Eirikur wondered what the other had wanted to say. He wished he could remember his name… What was it? He thought it began with the letter L, but that wasn't much help, lots of names started with the letter L.

He tried not to worry on it, starting on the slice of shortcake. It sure looked delicious. After taking a bite he could confirm that it was definitely delicious. Man- he was going to need to come back here again, it was totally worth the money. His parents gave him a good enough allowance for that anyway, well- maybe it was to make up for having to be abroad for work so much. They were good people though. Eirikur appreciated them.

Eirikur stayed sat in the armchair for a while after finishing both the tea and the cake, just relaxing in his own company. He did have friends of course, and he loved to spend time with them too, but there was just something so peaceful about being alone when he'd chosen to be so. Next time he came here, he'd bring a book to read- or maybe a notepad to write.

After a short while the dark haired teen was back "Are you done with all of that?" He asked him with a tray balanced on his hip, wanting to know whether he could clear his table.

Eirikur nodded at him before letting the curiosity get the better of him "Hey- I swear you used to be in my grade." He said "You get transferred to another school or something?"

The other laughed for a moment "Yeah, yeah I was. I remember your hair." He told him "But no, I didn't get transferred- I sorta dropped out for my old man, so I could help out more here at the shop."

"Wow- you must care about him a lot." Eirikur said, impressed with the other's devotion to family, thinking that he himself would never do that. He needed an education after all, and to him that was what needed to come first.

The other laughed again, this time it sounded a little bitterer "Something like that." He said "Anyway- I hope you have a good evening." he started to walk away after speaking.

"You too," Eirikur said "Hey- what was your name again?" he asked. He felt rude for not knowing it even though they'd been in school together, but he didn't like not knowing his name.

"Leon." The young man said before walking into what was probably a kitchen, hidden behind a wall behind the service area.

"Tell your sister I liked the cake Leon." Eirikur said before leaving the teashop to head home. It was about time he got home.

The next day Eirikur returned to the teashop after school. He'd felt preoccupied all night before he went to sleep, and all the way through the day too… He felt like he needed to know more about Leon- He needed to know more about his situation. Surely the other didn't care so little about his education? He'd never get a job anywhere else just dropping out like that.

He tried to remember what he'd seen the other be like in school as if this would give him a hint. He'd always seemed pretty relaxed around his friend group; though Eirikur was sure he got into a lot of fights. He tended to come into school with black eyes and swollen knuckles pretty often. He had to wonder what he got into fights over. His friends never seemed too worried though so it can't have been serious… What else did he remember-?

If he was correct, he could remember the other skipping classes a few times, seeing him around the school when he was running errands and the other clearly was not. Maybe he didn't care much about school? Eirikur wasn't sure. He always looked tired though, like he didn't sleep- Eirikur couldn't remember much else though.

He walked into the teashop again, walking over the tiled floor to the counter where Leon was again. "Hey, could I get the same as yesterday?" he asked the other casually, digging in his pocket for a moment to pull out the correct change.

Leon nodded at him, taking the money and hopping down from his stool to prepare the tea and put a slice of the shortcake onto a plate. "You really like it then?" Leon asked him with a slight smile "I should introduce you to my sister some time, I'm sure she'd love to meet a fan of her cakes." He told him with a smile.

Eirikur chuckled a little "Yeah maybe." He said "I'm sure she must be busy though, baking stuff like this must take ages after all." Eirikur didn't want to be a bother, and he never knew how to act when he was introduced to people. "I'll go sit down then." He told the other hesitantly before leaving to sit in his armchair in the corner of the teashop again.

After a few minutes Leon walked over with the other's order as he had done the day before "Here you go." He said, putting everything onto the table for him "Need anything else?" he asked.

"Nah nah, I'm good." Eirikur said, looking up at the other. Leon did have a very handsome face when he came to think about it, the other seemed like someone who prided himself on his appearance, wearing skinny jeans and a shirt that were perfectly co-ordinated to the apron he had on, his hair was clearly very carefully styled too.

Leon nodded at him when the other said he didn't need anything else and left to stand behind the counter again. Eirikur watched him, not trying to pry, just… trying to figure him out. He looked pretty bored to be honest, leant on the counter with his feet on the little stool. Eirikur couldn't help but smirk to himself at the stool "He likes to feel tall~" he mused to himself quietly, remembering something he'd seen on the internet when a dog was on a countertop or something.

After a while, Eirikur decided he'd get on with eating his cake and continue writing that story he was working on. It wasn't anything special, but he did like to write when he had some spare time. It was a nice hobby after all, and most Icelanders had at least one book published to their name.

Before he knew it, it was starting to get dark outside. He'd finished his tea and the shortcake hours ago, he'd just been writing… He wondered when the shop even closed before noticing a figure stood by his table.

"Hey, this is on the house." Leon said, putting a plate down. It had a slice of shortcake on it. "Don't take it too personally, we don't like to waste food, or sell cake that's more than a day or so old." He told him "So we need to finish off the shortcake before it starts to go stale."

Eirikur blushed, thinking it probably wouldn't be all that healthy to be eating so much cake but- well… Leon was offering it to him so kindly, and the cake was really good. It wasn't like he was on a diet or anything so he figured it would be fine. "Thank you Leon, even if it's just for convenience or whatever," he said "I appreciate the gesture."

Leon smiled back at him softly "I'm just glad you like the cake so much." He told him "By the way, what are you like even writing?" he asked "You've been sat there for hours with your nose to that notebook, what have you got down?"

"Oh- well it's just a story really." Eirikur told him "It's not all that good, I just really like writing, y'know?" he said with a bashful smile.

"Could I read some?" Leon asked curiously, he really did seem interested in what the other was working on.

"Well uh… not this- but… uh…" Eirikur hadn't really let anyone else read his writing before other than anonymous people on the internet. But that didn't count. He didn't care if they hated it. He'd never have to meet them face to face and have the embarrassment of knowing they'd read one of his stories… but he supposed he could show it to Leon… maybe… "I have other stories that are finished," he told him "They're not all that good though, so don't expect too much."

"I'm sure they're better than you think." Leon said casually, "Just show me one if you feel like it, yeah?" he suggested "Also it's coming up to closing time so y'know- you might want to hurry up." He told him. "As much as I'd love you to stay, we have to clean up and set up for tomorrow." Leon told him. This was his job after all.

Eirikur nodded at him, starting to eat the shortcake the other had given him politely before his phone started buzzing. It was a call from Mikkel- Oh jeez it really was late, the others were probably worried sick! "Yes hello," he said before being interrupted by the Dane.

"Are you okay? Where are you? Me and Lukas have been waiting for you to come home all afternoon, are you hurt or something?" he bombarded the other with questions, but it was only because he cared, and Eirikur knew that.

"I'm fine I'm fine, don't worry about me," he said, shaking his head a little "I just got caught up writing at the tea shop I told you about yesterday, they just gave me some free cake so if it sounds like I'm eating- it's because I am." He told him.

Mikkel seemed to be vaguely relieved by the other's statement "Well there aren't any more busses to the village running now, so uncle Tino is gonna have to come pick you up." He told him "Do you know the postcode of the café?"

Eirikur did not know the post code. "I'll ask the server." He said, before walking over to Leon who was at the counter "Hey, what's the postcode to this place?" he asked him "My folks said they're gonna pick me up 'cause it's late, but they don't know what to put into the sat nav."

Leon told him the postcode, and Eirikur relayed it to Mikkel who relayed it to Tino who then said he'd be there in fifteen minutes or so to pick him up. Eirikur felt a little guilty for making the man have to come out to collect him, but he supposed there was nothing he could do about it now. He went back to his shortcake, eating the rest of it before waving Leon goodbye and waiting outside the teashop so that Leon could close up shop.


	2. Tutoring

Eirikur had been frequenting the tea shop for a few weeks now, visiting almost every day unless he was needed elsewhere because of friends of family, but for the most part he was spending an awful lot of time at the tea shop. It was peaceful and a nice place to settle down to do his homework with some tea, cake, and good company. He didn't have long conversations with Leon, but that was okay, the short exchanges that they had were always nice. Eirikur wished he could spend some more time with the other, but it seemed like the other had a hard time ever getting out of work.

That was something he'd learned from speaking to the other, as well as that Leon's school friends didn't come to visit him in the shop anymore since it was boring for them and the food wasn't free. His sister was a few years younger than him and made the cakes, his father ran the business, though his two children were the ones who kept it going. Leon was in charge of cleaning the shop, and tending the till. Mei made the cakes and the sandwiches. She did this in the evenings after school after finishing her homework apparently. Leon didn't seem to like his father much, though he never said so outright.

Today Eirikur needed to work on his maths homework. God he hated maths. Most subjects he did fine at, and he was a very studious young man, however he hated maths with a passion. He wasn't awful at it, but it was definitely his weakest subject.

After ordering his usual from Leon he went to sit down and took the homework out, a big heavy textbook and a smaller workbook. He got to work after not too long, trying to figure out what the teacher had been trying to explain in class. It had all gone over his head… He couldn't remember any of this- what was it even meant to be? God he hated Maths- He just wanted to rip all of the pages out of his book and throw them in the bin-

Oh- Leon had just brought over his order. "Thanks, uh just set them down across from me, there's not so much space today." He said, gesturing towards the books that were taking up most of the space of the table.

"No problem." Leon said, setting the tea and the cake on the other side of the table to Eirikur, glancing over at his work. "Oh hey, you stuck?" he asked him. He could probably tell by the way Eirikur had done a lot of scribbling out and re-writing, and starting over for the same question.

"Yeah kinda…" Eirikur said awkwardly "It's not my best subject as you might be able to tell."

Leon shrugged a little and looked over the Eirikur's work with a thoughtful expression before explaining exactly what he needed to do as if he'd only been studying this the same day as well.

"Woah- how did you know how to do this?" Eirikur asked him. Leon had said that he'd dropped out of school as he was failing most of his classes-

"I did an accelerated course of study in mathematics." Leon told him with a casual shrug "It's like my only good subject to be honest." He said "I wanna be like… a person who works in finances high up in a company one day." Leon told him, his eyes lighting up for a moment. It must have been a dream of his.

"Oh sweet, so you know all this stuff already?" Eirikur asked him, just for a little clarification. It definitely seemed that way though.

"Yeah yeah I did all this stuff. I started on some college level stuff I think." He told him "It was really intense but it was like the best part of school so yeah."

"Hey- if you're free after work, do you think you could come over and tutor me or something?" Eirikur asked awkwardly, shifting in his seat a little "just- I could do with a hand and stuff."

Leon looked thoughtful for a moment and then conflicted, "I… I don't know." He told him "I'll go talk to Mei-Mei and see if she could do my evening duties for me." Leon said before walking away from the table. Eirikur knew that the other didn't really get much time off from working at the shop, so he supposed that there was a good chance he wouldn't be able to come and help, his sister probably had homework to do, plus baking, plus some spare time at some point?

Leon returned after about ten minutes "I can come after work." He told him "So once we've closed up I can come, is that okay?" he asked him "Mei can't work the till, but she said she could clean the shop floor for me when the day's over."

"Yeah I guess so, won't that mean you'll be late going home?" Eirikur asked him awkwardly.

"It's okay, I'll be fine. I'll just make sure I get back in time to go to bed." Leon told him "When the shop closes I can help tutor you." He said before patting the Eirikur's head briefly and walking back behind the till.

Eirikur pouted a little as the other patted his head with his tanned hands. Leon had short stubby fingers, but they suited him somehow. If he had long fingers they'd probably look odd with his already short frame… Eirikur had no idea why he was thinking so deeply into this as he was, but he just found himself very curious about the other.

He stayed there like Leon had asked him to, packing his things away and just enjoying his cake and his tea, before then just enjoying the relaxing atmosphere of the place and starting to write down more of the story he was working on. It was a good few hours. Eirikur texted his brother and his uncle this time to let them know that he would be late home and that he was bringing a guest over to help him with his maths homework.

Finally closing time came and Eirikur saw Leon walk into the backroom to hang up his apron, dust himself off, and walk over with a casual smile.

"So you ready to go?" Leon asked him, leaning on the table "Because I'm gonna have to ask you to leave whether you are or not. It's closing time." He said before laughing a bit and standing up straight again "Come on, let's go do some maths, shortcake~"

"You're calling me shortcake?" Eirikur asked, standing up from his seat. He was significantly taller than the other, short cake just felt… wrong somehow. Still, Leon was smiling. He had a really nice smile; Eirikur hoped he could see the other smile a lot.

"I dunno, you really like the cake." He told him "And from what I recall, you have a really hard to say name- like I remember someone telling me your name in school and being like 'Whaaaaaa?' Y'know?"

"Eirikur..?" The white haired teen said "It's not really that hard to say." He told Leon with a frown. It really wasn't that hard… or at least he didn't think it was. It was a pretty simple name. Three syllables weren't too hard to say, were they?

"Yeah that- I'm not even gonna embarrass myself and try to say it." Leon told him with a slight laugh "I know I'll say it wrong, so it's better I just call you something easier." He told him, elbowing him lightly.

It was getting a little dark out, but the streetlights lit up the street enough to make sure it wasn't a problem, orange light flooded the streets. It was getting a little bit cooler out, and Leon looked cold. Eirikur considered lending him his sweater, but decided not to. Maybe Leon would get the wrong idea. He didn't want to seem like he was coming onto him.

"Well if you insist." Eirikur said with a shrug as they approached the bus stop. "I live in a village just out of town, is that okay?" he asked the other, just realising that maybe he'd not mentioned that before. How would Leon get home..? Did the busses run that late-? Maybe one of his uncles could give him a lift home… yeah… it'd be fine. It'd be totally fine.

"That's cool." Leon said "If all else fails I can get an uber or something." He told him "It is _so_ nice to be out of the shop a while." He said, taking in a deep breath of the evening air.

"How often do you even get time away from the shop anyway?" Eirikur asked him curiously. He didn't want to pry, but Leon seemed to be very very keen to be away from there for a while.

"Uuh… I get Christmas off?" Leon said before laughing awkwardly "But when my sister and I are the only staff working inside the shop- well… There isn't time off." He explained to him "Unless it's the summer holidays and then sometimes Mei will cover for me so I can go out and just chill, y'know?" he said "You mind if I light up?" Leon asked, pulling out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket "I haven't had one since my last break and I'm gasping."

"Oh yeah sure that's fine, just don't blow the smoke in my direction." Eirikur told him. He didn't really… like smoking, but he didn't want to be a dick to the other, and he didn't want to seem difficult. Leon had what Eirikur could only assume was a hard life, so he didn't want to start being a dick to him over cigarettes.

Leon lit the cigarette, bringing it to his lips and taking a deep drag before exhaling the smoke tiredly. It was kind of pretty under the lights… in a weird way. Eirikur tried not to stare at the other, but he couldn't help but wonder what was causing the other's dejected expression as he smoked quietly. He supposed it had just been a long day. He kind of wanted to give him a hug but… maybe that would be weird.

"So…" Eirikur started to say softly, trying to think of something to talk about now "What do you like to do in your spare time?" he asked the other.

"I work out and stuff I guess." Leon told him with a shrug "I help my old man out with his work too." He went on to explain "Cause his English is shit, so sometimes he needs a hand."

"That's really good of you." Eirikur said. He thought it was pretty good how despite not getting on with his father, Leon still found time to help him out with running the business. He also thought it was really impressive that Leon found the time to work out! Eirikur couldn't remember the last time he actually did anything physical. Leon just seemed like a hard working guy. He'd never seemed like that in school, only too happy to goof off with his friends-

Leon shrugged "Jeez, it's been ages since I've gone out anywhere." He told him, leaning his head back and relaxing, by the looks of things "My school friends used to invite me out, but they hated waiting for closing time, and they'd wanna go out all night, I can't do that." Leon said before letting out a soft sigh "I think they stopped liking me when I got boring."

"You don't seem all that boring to me." Eirikur said to him "I mean sure you work a lot, but y'know- most adults do too… It's more personality that decides whether someone's boring."

"How insightful," Leon said thoughtfully. Eirikur watched the other as he took a few moments to consider what he'd said. "But I'd still be considered boring to them, whether I am boring to someone else or not, that kind of thing is subjective, y'know. I could look at a painting and think it's the most beautiful interesting thing I've ever seen, and someone else could look at it and say 'What fucking trash' and we'd both be right technically." Leon said.

"I guess that's true," Eirikur said, not having thought of that. It was his turn now to think, a pensive expression now coming over his face as he thought about the other's words. He supposed he was right, but then even in art there were some pieces that were just fundamentally better than others… but- that was all assuming that the rules of what made art good and bad were even real, considering that it was all very subjective "I think you win this." He said before laughing slightly.

Leon smiled with a satisfied expression "When's the bus coming?" he asked, turning to look at the timetable, crouching down a little to see the correct listing. "Mmm it'll be ten more minutes." He concluded, finding the bus number, then finding the time closest to the time it was for them as they stood there.

Eirikur nodded. That sounded about right to him. "So, you ever think of moving out?" he asked the other curiously "I mean since you're working all the time, you could probably afford to get your own place, right?"

Leon laughed, it was funny to him- Eirikur didn't know why it was so funny, surely he would get paid for his work, if he wasn't in schooling and he was working the hours he did… surely he'd get paid by his father.

"I don't really get paid much." Leon told him, still laughing but his laugh had turned more cold and bitter. "My old man deducts pay for my rent, for keeping the budget in order, whatever I don't care." Leon told him; clearly trying to dismiss this subject "I'm never getting out."

Eirikur felt bad for bringing it up now, bad that Leon had to deal with this, bad that this was life now for the other. What about college, what about school, becoming independent? It just didn't seem right. It didn't seem okay to him. He didn't know what he was supposed to say about it though. What was there to say about it? He had no right, not understanding the situation the other was in at all, to start telling him what to do, what to say… He didn't really know how to help, just that he wanted to.

The two young men were quiet for a while. Eirikur wondered how much Leon's father paid him, he wondered how many hours Leon worked a week, what about his sister, how would she keep up with her studies when she got older? It all seemed… wrong. He didn't feel like he could help at all though, what was he meant to do?

The bus came, engine juddering the vehicle, the hydraulics hissing and puffing as the two young men stepped on. Eirikur paid the fare for the both of them; feeling like it was only fair since Leon would be tutoring him. Eirikur walked to sit down near the back, letting Leon have the window seat. He figured maybe the other would appreciate it since he didn't get out much.

The two were mostly quiet during the bus ride before Leon spoke again, gazing out of the window of the bus almost wistfully "I wanna run away from home some days." He said softly "Just get away from it all, live on the street; sort my life out… Make something of myself…" He told him quietly, never looking him in the face though "I'd fucking love that. You have no idea how much I want that."

Eirikur could feel his insides tense at the other's words. He knew deep down that this was the truth before Leon had even said this, but it still felt uncomfortable to hear. This guy was so unhappy with his home, and so desperately wanted to do something else with his life, and yet he stayed. Why did he stay…? Eirikur wanted to ask, but maybe Leon would tell him without prompting- that would be a better way of finding out anyway.

Leon did tell him after a few moments, no prompting required for this guy apparently. "I can't leave Mei though." He said softly "I love that girl to bits… I can't leave her behind, and I can't take her with me. She's too vulnerable."

Oh-

Eirikur wondered how long Leon had been keeping all of these thoughts inside of himself, how long he'd wanted to leave for… He thought more about Leon's sister who he could recognise in the school more easily now since seeing her in the shop a couple of times. She was fourteen, beautiful, and tiny. She… she would not be safe, and that was for sure. Leon was definitely right for thinking she'd not make it on the streets.

"I'm sorry." Eirikur said quietly. He didn't know what else to say. What else was there to say?

"No, don't be." Leon told him, shaking his head "You've done nothing wrong. You don't need to apologise to me for my life." He said before going quiet again and looking outside.

Eirikur frowned to himself again, his insides twisting up with worry for the other. He didn't know why he was even so worried about him… Leon wasn't his problem. Thousands of people had much worse lives than him, probably millions, maybe even billions… why was he so fucking worried? It wasn't like that would fix the problem. He didn't know how to fix this at all.

Eventually the bus reached the stop closest to Eirikur's house, and he led the other off and towards his home. It was a quiet village neighbourhood. Nothing really happened there, but Eirikur liked the peace and quiet of it.

"Nice place." Leon said softly as he looked about the darkened village. It was small and the houses looked cosy.

"Thanks." He said, walking with him to his home. It was one of the bigger houses, many bedrooms inside, en-suit bathrooms; the whole shebang. The house needed to be big though. Eirikur lived with his two older brothers, his two uncles, and his parents… occasionally. They were off on business a lot, so his uncles looked after himself and his older brothers primarily.

At this point both he and his brothers were old enough to look after themselves, but it was still nice to have his uncles around to keep an eye on them, and to help out when they could. There was no point for them to leave now, not really.

He let Leon into the house, putting his keys in a plate on the windowsill by the door before checking the lounge to see who was in there. "Oh Hey Mikkel, my friend's coming over to tutor me some maths, so I'll see you later, yeah?" He said.

Mikkel looked over to the two young men, smiling at them both "Yeah sure, does Tino know? I mean he might as well stay for dinner if he's gonna be over so late."

Eirikur nodded "Yeah I told him, Leon's staying for dinner." He said casually. Tino was his mother's brother. He was a really nice man. He'd volunteered to take care of things when his parents first decided that they'd need to be working abroad. His husband Berwald was equally nice, but a lot quieter, not that anyone minded.

Mikkel nodded "Well have fun then." He said "I'll see you both later at dinner." He said, before turning back to watch the television casually. He was always glad to see Eirikur bring friends to the house. It was a relief to know that one; he had friends, and two; that he trusted them enough to bring them back to his house.

Eirikur lead Leon up to his room, opening his bedroom door and walking inside. He walked over to his desk and pulled up a second chair before taking out his maths work "Okay so- explain this to me because I'm stuck as hell and I really need to do well in this." He said.

Leon nodded at him casually, sitting down and starting to explain it to him, demonstrating for him on a spare piece of paper. Eirikur couldn't help but notice the way the other became so engrossed in this. He could tell he was holding himself back so as not to go too fast, keeping purposefully slow hand movements so as to not race ahead.

Leon's handwriting was messy, but since Leon was saying each of the things he wrote down Eirikur could memorise what each scribbled note meant.

After a while it all sort of made sense… a lot of sense. Leon let the other do some of his own calculations, only stepping in to tell him when he was starting to go wrong until Eirikur was proficient enough to no longer need prompting or corrections.

It made Eirikur happy to see the other smile, to know that it was because of his work that the other was smiling too. It was a good feeling. He felt so accomplished. He hoped Leon could tutor him again some time. He was really helpful.

"So now we're done with studies, what do you want to d-." Eirikur was interrupted.

"Dinner's ready!" he heard a call from downstairs. It was Tino.

"I'm guessing we get something to eat." Leon said, smiling at the other.

Eirikur couldn't help but laugh just a little before nodding "Yeah I guess we are." He said, standing up from his seat and walking towards the bedroom door. "My family are really nice." He added "I think you'll like them."

Leon smiled more at that, nodding at him "Yeah I think so too." He said, following him downstairs.

Eirikur walked into the kitchen with the other, sitting down beside Lukas, letting Leon sit on the other side of him. He started to introduce his family to the other, gesturing towards each of them in turn and Telling Leon who they were.

Leon was polite throughout the whole meal, chatting a lot with Mikkel about this and that, talking to Eirikur too. He generally was vague about his home life, but said enough so that nothing would be suspicious.

Eventually the two of them went back upstairs to Eirikur's room to just hang out for a bit after Leon insisted that it wasn't too late, and he wanted to see what he did for fun.

They ended up chatting late into the evening, it started out pretty simply with talking about school, teachers they hated, teachers they loved, talking about books they'd both read, talking about the teashop… about family-

Then Leon brought up his mother. He was still very vague, as he tended to be about his family "She died when I was a kid." He said "She was really sweet though, like… so wonderful. I loved her so much. It's hard to remember her face now though- when I try to think back about her I just- end up seeing Mei's face instead," Leon paused looking away awkwardly "Sorry- I… I should just shut up and stuff. I just- haven't ever talked to anyone about any of this before, y'know? You're a good listener.

Eirikur pulled the other into a hug, not knowing what else to do. He just looked so- dejected. His life was not fair. It wasn't fair in any way, and Eirikur had no idea about how to fix any of it, so instead of that… he just hugged him as close as he could. He wasn't usually one for physical contact, but he really just didn't know what else to do.

He hadn't been expecting tears though. Leon didn't hug back at first, but after just a few moments he did and tightly. Before Eirikur knew what was happening Leon was just… just sobbing on him. He didn't know how to act. He just… stroked the other's back gently, telling him that it was okay, to let it out, that he was there for him.

It took a while for Leon to calm down, but he did. He pulled away from the hug softly "I… sorry about that." He said, his breathing still uneven, his eyes puffy from all the crying "I shouldn't have said anything, I'm sorry." He said.

Eirikur shook his head quickly "No, no don't apologise!" he exclaimed "It's okay, really it is." He said "I just- anything I can do to help... y'know?" he said, gingerly wiping the tears from the other's cheeks with his pale fingers "I… I we can keep this just between us, yeah?" he told him.

"Thank you… I- you're a really good person." Leon told him before laughing tearfully for just a moment "I've always thought so- even before we knew each other." He said. He would've blushed if his face weren't already so red from crying.

"Oh I- I didn't know you even knew who I was…" he said, feeling guilty. He'd never really had an opinion of Leon in school- he felt bad for that now.

"Hey- I'm probably being stupid 'cause I'm tired and 'cause I've just been crying for I… don't know how long but… I just kinda wanted to tell you- while I'm being completely emotionally open with you and shit… I really want to kiss you."

Eirikur didn't know how to react. He didn't know what to say. What was the correct reaction to this!? Apparently though his body was farther ahead than his mind and before he was entirely aware of what he was doing, his lips were on Leon's.

It was a soft tentative kiss. Eirikur pulled away after a moment, his face bright red. Bright bright red- "I… uh- uhm- yeah… that happened." He said awkwardly "It was… nice?" he said awkwardly. Eirikur was at a loss for words. What was he meant to say now?

Leon put a hand over his lips, looking away for a moment "Yeah- that was… that was really good." He said "I- wouldn't mind if we did that more…." He told him quietly.

Eirikur couldn't help but smile bashfully "Well before we do… here-" he said, holding out a clean handkerchief to the other. It had a snowflake pattern on it. "So you can dry your face and stuff," he told the other awkwardly.

Leon took it tentatively, wiping his eyes then blowing his nose. "I'll get it back to you-" he told him "Let me take it home and wash it, and I'll bring it back."

"No no, you can keep it really-"

"No Snowflake- I'll get it back to you." He said "I don't want to take your things,"

"I- you- Snowflake-?" Eirikur questioned embarrassedly "I don't know about that…" he said.

"It suits you." Leon told him "Now… were you gonna kiss me more or-?"

"Are you sure this is a good time?" he asked "I mean… you're emotionally vulnerable right now- I don't wanna y'know… take advantage of this."

"No no- trust me… this isn't spur of the moment… I've uh… I've really liked you for a while." He told him "Since school." He added "If anything is gonna make me feel better it's this." Leon told him with an awkward smile "If you don't want to kiss… maybe we could just cuddle for a while?" he asked "Y'know… just for a bit…"

What was meant to be a bit of cuddling turned into Leon falling asleep on Eirikur, and Eirikur not having the heart to tell Leon that he needed to leave. He couldn't bring himself to wake the other up, he was just so sweet… He was breathing so slowly, and his face was so relaxed and… really really handsome the more Eirikur came to study it. Eirikur wasn't sure what to do with these feelings so he just… stayed cuddled up to the other and went to sleep.


End file.
